Tal Memorial Blitz, Day 1: Anand Leads, Carlsen Second, Karpov(!!!) Third (Updated)
Monday, November 16, 2009 at 11:07PM It looks like the recent practice has done served Anatoly Karpov well! But first, let's give Viswanathan Anand his props. After 14 of 21 rounds the world champion has a fantastic score of 12 points, with nary a loss thus far. It's not as important as the slow tournament that just finished, but it's at the very least a nice consolation prize.
Two points behind - and with his game against Anand yet to come - is Magnus Carlsen. He has lost three games (including a shocker to tailender Alexandra Kosteniuk), but aside from some early problems and a round 14 loss to...Karpov!, he has played very well.
Karpov's current status in third place (9 points) is amazing, given his horrible performances the last several years. Granted, it's only blitz and practically everyone is hiding their best weapons; even so, it's a great result. He lost one game, to Bareev, but has beaten Carlsen, Gashimov, Tkachiev, Gelfand and Mamedyarov. He has lots of tough opponents to face tomorrow, so it's possible he'll drop like a stone in the standings, but for now it's a pleasure to see him doing well.
Only half a point behind are Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Grischuk. Kramnik's main problem was his choice of 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.d4 Qd6, which cost him at least three games. Maybe the line is okay, but it doesn't look very "Kramniky". One of those losses was his first-ever loss to Judit Polgar, at least the first I'm aware of. It's only blitz, but still!
You can find the full crosstable here, but now let me discuss some games aside from the ones mentioned above that caught my eye. Anand won some nice games, of course, and I liked the end of his round 2 win over Ivanchuk and his round 8 victory over Svidler. Kramnik delivered a fine pasting to Aronian in round 5, complete with a nifty petit combination to end the game. Jakovenko-Kosteniuk (round 8) saw one of the most interesting Petroff lines, and the game might be theoretically significant. Those who play or face the Marshall line (3.Nxe5...6...Bd6) should have a look. In other interesting opening news, again with Kosteniuk as the victim, see her round 10 game with Ivanchuk when he pulled the old Hamppe-Allgaier Gambit out of his hat: 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4!? Finally, Morozevich also took a trip to the museum, playing 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 at every opportunity. (The games can be replayed and downloaded here.)
UPDATE: It's a double round-robin that continues through Wednesday, so it's only the first cycle that ends after round 21.
blitz in Tal Memorial 2009
Reader Comments (3)
Hi Dennis,
any information/idea on how Carlsen lost to Kosteniuk? I mean, kudos, great result for her, but I'm a bit puzzled, as White's position after 43.R1e2, the last move in the TWIC scores, doesn't look all that bad to me. If he lost on time, Kosteniuk's move would've been at the end of the gamescore, not his, so he must've resigned (after making his move!?).
Kajetan
OK, now I know. Not a pretty thing, it appears. If you look at the video footage: http://video.russiachess.org/browse/16/#session73 (at 14:42:something), you can see that Carlsen actually played 43.R3e2?? dropping a rook, and then... instantly took it back, played 43.R1e2, and after Kosteniuk protesting... got up and left the table without shaking hands.
I get it, blitz is blitz, and adrenaline is rushing, but still I hope he came to his senses and apologised to her later.
Cool long video. Let me correct (or maybe update, if that's a video they kept adding to) the time reference: it's at 8:42:42-3 that it happens.